Zombie politicians find new life after disgrace

By Dean Obeidallah, Special to CNN

Updated 3:19 PM ET, Wed April 3, 2013

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Photos:Top 10 political comebacks

David Vitter – Sen. David Vitter admitted his guilt in the D.C. Madam scandal in 2007. His phone number had been published in 2009 in a list of phone records from a prostitution ring Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the "D.C. Madam." Three years later he was reelected to the Senate.

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Photos:Top 10 political comebacks

Anthony Weiner – Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, resigned from Congress in 2011 after being embroiled for weeks in a sex scandal linked to his lewd online exchanges with women. Weiner announced in May that he was running for mayor of New York City, saying in a video announcing his campaign, "I hope I get a second chance to work for you." Weiner's comeback bid suffered a potential setback Tuesday, July 23, when he acknowledged more sexually tinged exchanges with an unnamed woman. "What I did was wrong," Weiner said in a statement about the newly emerged communications.

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Eliot Spitzer – Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in 2008 after it was revealed that he had spent thousands of dollars on prostitutes, says he plans to run for New York City's comptroller. "I accepted responsibly for what I did," Spitzer said. "I spent five years of working, doing useful things, and I hope the public will offer me an opportunity." Despite taking knocks from the press, the voters and, in some cases, the law, other politicians have pursued redemption in their public image or, in some cases, a return to office.

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Photos:Top 10 political comebacks

Mark Sanford – Former Gov. Mark Sanford endured heavy criticism and being the butt of jokes until his term ended after he admitted in 2009 that his six-day hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail was actually a cover for a trip to Argentina to visit his mistress. In May, Sanford won election against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch for an open seat in the U.S. House, despite being heavily outspent by Democrats and without the backing of national Republicans.

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Bill Clinton – Bill Clinton had a scandalous presidency, most famously having an affair with an intern that prompted his impeachment. Since, he has become an important figure in worldwide humanitarian efforts and informal adviser to President Obama.

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Newt Gingrich – Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich left his position in disgrace after the Clinton impeachment proceedings in 1998. It was also later revealed that he was having an affair with a Congressional staffer, now his current wife Callista. Gingrich had an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and is now seen as an elder party statesman, regularly appearing in the media on conservative issues.

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Gary Hart – Before becoming an adviser for Homeland Security, retired Sen. Gary Hart was the front-runner of the 1988 Democratic primaries for president until images of him with a model surfaced, ending his campaign.

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Dennis Kucinich – Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has had many ups and downs in his political career, first becoming mayor of Cleveland, at the age of 31, and then losing a bid for reelection. Kucinich was later elected to the Senate and then the U.S. House but lost when he ran for president in 2004 and again in 2008.

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Marion Barry – Marion Barry is sworn in as the mayor of Washington with his wife, Cora Masters Barry, at his side, in 1995. Four years earlier, he was forced from the mayor's office, and later imprisoned, for being caught on videotape smoking crack.

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Richard Nixon – Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974 after the Washington Post broke the story on his role in the Watergate burglary. But before being elected president, Nixon was Dwight Eisenhower's vice president. He lost his first presidential election to John F. Kennedy in 1960, and then lost the governor's race in California in 1962. However, in 1968, he got the GOP nomination and defeated Hubert Humphrey in the general election to become president.

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Story highlights

Dean Obeidallah: Disgraced politicians can write a book, go on TV, run for office again

Obeidallah: Are we so forgiving because we reward fame regardless of how it's attained?

Ronald Reagan once joked, "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards. If you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book."

Today, that joke would have to be updated to add that not only can you write a book, but you can also be on reality TV show, host cable news programs, run for office again and possibly even win.

Disgraced politicians never die. They're like Jason from the "Friday the 13th" movies -- you just can't kill them. They keep coming at you like the political version of zombies.

Sure, some fallen politicians still write books about their "adventures."

Dean Obeidallah

Former Ohio congressman Bob Ney recently made the rounds on the talk show circuit to promote his new memoir. Ney, who resigned in 2006, served more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

But books are nothing compared to the other ways sullied politicians can profit off of their newly found infamy.

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer -- who resigned because he was caught frequenting prostitutes -- went on to host not one, but two different shows on cable TV. The first one was on CNN, and the second one was on Current TV.

Then there's exploiting your scandal in the time between when you're indicted and convicted of the crime. Former Texas congressman Tom DeLay -- while under indictment and awaiting a trial date -- appeared as a contestant on the hit TV show "Dancing with the Stars." DeLay was later convicted of campaign finance violations and money laundering.

Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – CIA Director David Petraeus stepped down Friday, November 9, 2012, citing an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Many questions surround the affair, including why it was necessary for Petraeus to resign and the future of his marriage to his wife, Holly. Here's a look at other U.S. sexual scandals that led to political stumbles and downfalls.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Former actor and California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made headlines in 2011 when his longtime wife, journalist Maria Shriver of the Kennedy clan, filed for divorce after learning Schwarzenegger had fathered a son with the couple's housekeeper. Schwarzenegger recently began talking publicly about the affair, released an autobiography and made a return to acting. He has said he hopes to win Shriver back.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Former president Bill Clinton's denial of his affair with then-intern Monica Lewinsky jeopardized his seat in the Oval Office. News of the affair surfaced in 1998, and Clinton became the second president to be impeached by the U.S. House when he was brought up on charges of lying to a grand jury and trying to influence the testimony of others but wasn't removed from office. He is still married to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, issued an apology "for a very serious sin in my past" after his phone number showed up in the records of Pamela Martin and Associates, and escort service run by Deborah Jeane Palfrew, aka the "D.C. Madam" Vitter is still serving in the Senate and is still married.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, caused a stir in Washington in 2011 when he was caught using social media to communicate with at least six women other than his wife, Huma Abedin. Weiner left office in his seventh term in Congress. Shortly after his resignation, news broke the Abedin was pregnant with their first child. Today, the couple is still married, and Weiner is a stay-at-home dad to their son. Weiner rejoined Twitter earlier this month.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick apologized to his wife and the city after romantic messages, reported by the Detroit Free Press, indicated the Democrat was having an affair with his chief of staff. The chief of staff, Christine Beatty, resigned, but Kilpatrick, said he would not. In testimony last August, both Beatty and Kilpatrick had denied having a romantic relationship. Kilpatrick later resigned. He is serving a prison sentence of up to five years for violating probation in a 2008 case against him. That case involved two state felony counts of obstruction of justice stemming from his efforts to cover up the extramarital affair.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential hopeful, saw his political career spin off track when he finally admitted in 2008 that he was unfaithful to his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth Edwards. Edwards at first denied the affair but ultimately came clean about fathering a child with his campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter. Prosecutors accused Edwards of illegally using hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to keep his pregnant mistress under wraps, but he was granted a mistrial on May 31, 2012. Elizabeth Edwards died in 2010.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Former Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, agreed to step down temporarily as the leading Republican on Senate committees after details came out about his 2007 arrest in an airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Picked up during a police sting targeting lewd behavior in the airport's restrooms Craig pleased guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in August 2007. No sexual contact is alleged to have taken place but the officer who arrested the senator said Craig moved his foot to touch the officer's foot in another stall. Craig, who is married, said he did not make any "inappropriate contact." He called his guilty plea a "poor decision" and denied being gay.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, resigned in September 2006 after he was accused of sending sexually explicit instant messages and e-mails to congressional pages. Florida authorities opened an investigation, as did the FBI. Foley later checked into a treatment facility for alcoholism.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Weeks after separating from his wife, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa acknowledged he had been having an affair with a local television reporter. "It is true that I have a relationship with Ms. Mirthala Salinas," the Democrat said in a statement published in the Los Angeles Daily News. "As I've said I take full responsibility for my actions, and I once again ask that people respect my family's privacy. For my part, I intent to stay focused on my job and to work as hard as I can every day to be the best mayor I can be." Villaraigosa and his wife divorced in 2010. He is still mayor.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Days before the House voted to impeach President Clinton, Rep. Bob Livingston, R-Louisiana, admitted to cheating on his wife. On the day of the impeachment vote, Livingston, a Republican who was to succeed Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House, announced he would resign from Congress in six months. He urged Clinton to do the same. "I must set the example that I hope President Clinton will follow," he said.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – When then-South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford went MIA for nearly a week in June of 2009, his staff told the public he was out hiking the Appalachian Trail. But when the Republican was spotted at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, he decided to come clean about the mysterious hiking trip and quite a bit more. Sanford admitted he was not hiking, but visiting his Argentinian mistress in Buenos Aires. Though his wife, Jenny, said she was open to reconciliation, Sanford was head-over-heels for paramour Maria Belen Chapur. The Sanfords divorced. He became engaged to Belen Chapur in August.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – Eliot Spitzer earned a squeaky clean image as the attorney general of New York who took on Wall Street corruption from 1999 to 2006. From there, he moved to the governor's mansion in Albany in 2007. But the Democrat was stopped in his political tracks when his liaisons with high-paid prostitute Ashley Dupre surfaced, and he stepped down as governor in March 2008. He briefly went on to anchor and now hosts "Viewpoint'" on Current TV. He is still married to Silda Wall Spitzer.

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Photos:Photos: Public figures, private missteps

Public figures, private missteps – In 2009, then Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, admitted having an affair with Cindy Hampton, a campaign aide and the wife of his former chief of staff, Doug Hampton. Investigators examined the former senator's efforts to assist the Hampton family by providing a payment of nearly $100,000, arranging lobbying work for Doug Hampton and possibly meeting with him on a lobbying matter in violation of Senate rules. Hampton was sentenced to a year of probation for violating lobbying laws. Ensign never faced charges.

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But the guy who set the bar high for all disgraced politicians is former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

After being removed from office by the state legislature and while under indictment, Blagojevich wrote a book about his scandal, went on "The Daily Show" and "Letterman" and was a contestant on Season 9 of Donald Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice." Blagojevich even appeared at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con (a comic book convention), where he charged $50 for autographs and $80 for a photo with him. He was subsequently convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Among politicians who don't end up in jail, some try hard to become elected officials again. They want to go back to the very place that caused their problems. It's like a recovering drug addict asking to work at a meth lab -- not a good combo.

Just look at former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who is running to fill a recently vacated Congressional seat. As a refresher, Sanford disappeared for six days in 2009 while governor. At first, Sanford's office publicly stated that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. However, we soon found out that he was actually in Argentina visiting the woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

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Sanford later paid $74,000 to settle charges that he had misused state resources and campaign funds in conducting his affair. However, Sanford refused to resign and completed his term.

Flash forward to March 19: Sanford came in first in a crowded field of Republicans in the GOP Congressional primary. Recent polls show him with a 10-point lead over his opponent in the Republican primary runoff scheduled for April 2.

And don't forget Anthony Weiner, the former Democratic Congressman from New York City. As most people, and all comedians, vividly recall, Weiner had "accidentally" tweeted photos of himself in his underwear to a young woman on Twitter. Weiner later admitted to having non-sexual but "inappropriate" relationships with various women on social media. Weiner resigned from Congress a few weeks after the scandal broke in June 2011.

What's Weiner up to now? Apparently he has figured out how to use Twitter and is at least considering a return to politics. Weiner revealed he had spent more than $100,000 on polls recently to explore possibly running for office in New York City.

What does it say about us that these disgraced politicians have success -- however fleetingly -- after their scandals? Is it because we are a forgiving lot who believe in second chances if the person has sincerely apologized and seeks redemption? Or is it because we are all infected with the reality-show mindset where we reward fame regardless of how it's attained?

Plenty of people don't distinguish between whether a person is famous for good or bad reasons. All that matters is if a person has made it to that semi-exclusive club of celebritydom. After that, enough people will support the person to merit securing a book deal, being cast on a reality show and maybe run for office.

Look, I'm all for redemption and second chances. But I'm also aware that just like we saw with Jason in "Friday the 13th" movies, the longer he's alive, the more damage he will do.